Dornacker, Jon - MD

A native of Mayville, Dr. Dornacker earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology and chemistry at Mayville State University in 1987. He also earned a law degree from the UND School of Law in 1991 and practiced law for seven years in Grand Forks, Carrington and Bismarck.

Becoming a physician was something "I have always wanted to do," he says, so eight years ago he enrolled at the UND medical school. He chose to pursue training in family medicine because "You're on the front lines, where you get to see the people," he says. "You do a little bit of everything, helping infants to the elderly. You're not specialized into one niche."

Dornacker, who has been doing locum tenens work at Garrison for the past year, one to two weekends each month, got to know the staff at the hospital and found that the "nurses were great, the people were great, the town was great - it was just a great experience." He and his wife, Kristy, have two children, Alexander, 8, and Cassandra, 6. The family resides in Garrison.